Scouting Report on Scott Olsen
A graduate of Crystal Lake South High School in Illinois, Olsen grew up a big Cubs’ fan. Even when he was in the Marlins’ Minor League system in 2003, the left-hander was standing outside Wrigley Field when the Marlins beat the Cubs in Game 6 of the NLCS. Now, Olsen is in line to pitch in Wrigley Field for the first time. Fresh off an impressive win at Philadelphia, Olsen is seeking his third straight solid start. In beating the Phillies, he gave up two runs (one earned) in 6 2/3 innings. A key for him is walks allowed. He walked two at Citizens Bank Park. (MLB.com)

Weather ReportTemperature: 58oWind: 10 MPH blowing from Left to Right

Cub Notes

The Cubs have not swept the Marlins at Wrigley Field since July 12-14, 2002

The Cubs lead the league with a .315 batting average with runners in scoring position.

The Cubs rank 2nd in the league with a .450 batting average with the bases loaded. Man, .450 is only 2nd?

Angel Guzman is making his Major league debut today. The last game he pitched was in AAA where he allowed 7 earned runs. Scott Olsen has limited experience as well. Two young guys means whichever team can jump out first will probably win the game. If you can rattle a guy early, you can probably get in his head.

Jerry Hairston will be starting at 2b again.

Jacque Jones is 2 runs away from 500 for his career.

Michael Barrett jammed his finger last night when he slid into 2b. Odds are he’ll get the day off. That should mean Blanco would hit 8th and Hairston 7th.

Matt Murton has been a great addition to this lineup. He is 2nd to only Aramis Ramirez in BB with 8 and has an on base % of .370. Last night he was clutch with 2 RBI.

Rotoworld mentions that Jerry Hairston should be hitting in the 1 or 2 spot in the order. Personally, I really don’t think he’s a good everyday guy. Stick with Ronny and we’ll be fine.

Cub fans are starting to Boo Jacque Jones which is ridiculous. Give the guy a chance. Is he the best RF? Certainly not, but booing him doesn’t help. It gets in his head and makes him press. Support him and he’ll be fine.

Sean Marshall was AWESOME last night. When I looked at the pitching matchups and saw Marshall / Willis, I have to admit that I wasn’t very excited about our chances. Sean Marshall proved me wrong and took big advantage of the wind blowing in. His breaking ball was wicked and he kept the ball in the strikezone. The one bad note was that guys were stealing at will on him.

Last night was Dontrelle’s 5th start in Wrigley. Up to that point, he was masterful. His career ERA is 1.60. We caught a break last night.

If you’ve never seen John Sickel’s minor league site, you’ll need to check it out here. He has a cool feature called prospect retro. The other day the subject was Corey Patterson and can be read here. The closing paragraph pretty much says it all:

In retrospect, Patterson’s problems with strike zone judgment ended up overriding his other tools and skills. He’s shown no real skill growth for three years now. It seems likely that part of this was because he was rushed to the majors before he had solved the problem at the lower levels, although his pure athleticism was so good that he could do well in the minors even without good discipline. At age 26, he still has some time to turn things around, but the early returns in Baltimore are hardly positive, and at this point he has to be regarded as a major disappointment.

If you missed Ron Santo singing the 7th inning stretch the other day, Len and Bob have it on video on their blog here.